Call Me by the Night
by naavu
Summary: HM, it's rated R to be on the safe side. Anyway, I'm trying out my writing; if anyone would review and tell me on a scale of one to ten what I am, I would love you forever. It's AU, and I can only write with an orginal character. No pairings of my own.
1. First Night

Call Me by the Night

  


"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Kenshin! Happy..."

She peered through the slats of the large window. It was a little high up, but that was okay. The girl was shoved down. With irritation and a little fear, she looked up at the man who called her his own.

"Take the damn instrument and play."

Grudgingly, she carefully took the violin from him. Unerring, she placed the instrument under chin and raised the bow. She held it for a long moment and thought about what would happen if she carried this through.

And then thunder crashed, and she held a sudden victory smile. No playing in the rain.

"Dammit!" the man half muttered, to low for even trained ears to hear. But still, she did, and she hoped Battousai would or any of the others within. That would be a godsend. Spitefully she thought to herself, If they were anything as good as me they'd hear. Though she didn't think about the ruckus they were still making inside about the birthday.

Still muttering silently, he grabbed her up and dragged her along. Once out of earshot, he released her and began cursing. "Fuck! We almost succeeded. If we happen to be blessed with another chance, you'd better be damned faster about it."

"I'll go about it the way I want. What are _you_ going to do?"she challenged, her yellow-green eyes mocking. "Are you going to threaten to break my hands? No. You need them."

"Listen to me, you stupid little girl, you _will_ do as I say, or I'll give you back to the Order you came from, full papers, lineage, and all. Don't think you're such hot baggage just because you can play. And you'll wish you never had the talent if you go back _there._"

When she would have said more, he yanked her long tresses, straight as an arrow and the color of dark roses, and pulled her close up. With his hot breath on her face, he threatened her in a calm, quiet way. "If you do not listen, I _will_ break your hands. What good do they do me if you're constantly an uncooperative bitch?"

"They're the only limbs in the entire world that can play it, "she shot back, but her eyes lowered and she gave in.

"Better. On the next full moon that falls on Battousai's birthday we'll try again. Until then, _try_ to be a little nicer."

The clean-shaven, raven haired man smiled wickedly and she became more determined than ever that he would not circumvent her attempts at furthering her skill in the arts of combat. And then she would defeat him on his own playing field. 


	2. A Second Turn of Importance

11 Years Later Chapter Two

  


It had finally happened. It took her until she was 17, but she'd finally confirmed that she could beat him in every way, and get back the spirit stones that held her brother's life. The man could always before destroy them, killing her brother, before she could stop him. 

But now she could win.

She lounged back in the very plush chair, shaped like a big circular scoop. The girl wore red, a sure sign that blood would be spilled. She waited for him to come home. She anticipated it. Already, she'd shattered her restraints, instead of merely pretending to be held by them when he was around. It fooled him into thinking she did nothing while he was away. He was stupid. She trained to kill him while he was not around.

The wooden planks shivered a bit from the front of the large house. He was home. The heart already beating with the express purpose of slaying her slaver caught itself, pumped harder.

She intently watched the door handle, all other senses in tune with what was happening out there. Finally, the handle twisted and the door opened. He came in, handsome as ever despite his filthiness. With drunken eyes, he didn't note that she was free. He didn't note much of anything important.

She took a moment, to think, _How far has he degenerated from what he could have been?_

"I see you've kept up with the time, baby. Yup. Tonight's the night you play. I approve of you wearing that killing outfit I bought'cha. I still remember when I first introduced you to my area of expertise: blood," he finished his announcement of the date with a grisly memory she always resented.

But she was stunned. She hadn't cared at all about playing, and that it was tonight surprised her. But what the hell? Did it matter? Maybe it would be that much sweeter if she killed him in his crowning glory.

He moved to kiss her; she flashed away. In his inebriation, he didn't notice that the girl was improved in her movements.

_I could take the spirit stones right now_, she thought._ But where does he keep them?_

"Awww. What is it?" H e rubbed his grizzled chin in a bad mockery of thought. The man closed his bloodshot eyes. She almost hurled at the lingering stink of his breath. "Don't wanna celebrate? You never do. But soon I'll celebrate with you all night long, and there'll be nothing you can do about it then."

She stayed silent.

"Well, come on, let's go. Don't want to miss another opportunity do we?"

Her eyes relaxed and she said delicately, her expressions making her face mobile, "You don't really want Battousai to see you like this after all these years do you?"

"What're you talking about?" He was truly puzzled, and his expression revealed it.

She rolled her eyes. Bluntly, she said, "You're drunk, unshaven, foul mouthed, and kind of greasy."

His eyes lightened and he smiled, because he was in a good mood. "You're right. But you better be nicer. I still got those stones in my belt."

_His belt? _She kept pleasantness up, even though if he was as alert as he'd been 11 years ago, he'd have been suspicious. He undressed and went behind the bathing screen. And she was on his clothes the moment he was blind to her. In actuality, it was ludicrously easy to find the "secret" opening and pull them out. She pocketed them, then threw his belt back down on the floor.

"Come here and massage me, " he commanded.

"Wouldn't dream of it," she said in a tone that paid no attention to him. The girl was used to his frequent attempts to charm her, and dismissed all his actions regarding her like that from mind. Another thing she was accustomed to was him having no shame. She merely shrugged when he reemerged wondering where his kimono was, himself being currently quite naked.

"I don't know, " she said, not bothering to look up. She wasn't naive about naked men, or at least him, but neither was she fascinated.

"Fine. I'll go find one myself. Aren't you supposed to have feminine instincts to take care of households or something?"

"I play."

He came back a while later with only his black pants on. She could smell already that he'd brushed his teeth, and one disinterested glance could have told her he'd bothered to shave and do more than soak in water.

"Think you can handle him after I play?" She did look at him now, and was startled to see that clean, he was striking. Like he would have been years ago, if she had remembered him that way.

"What a pity, " she muttered, meaning that he had to turn out to be a has-been, or at least appear that way, and also that she felt obligated to kill him. Other than that...

She was numb to him.

He slapped her, reminding her that he wasn't what he had been, quite, but he could still hurt her. The split second before his hand touched her skin, she opted to let him have this little victory. If she was to kill him later that night, he must not know of her skills. Especially because his bath had sobered him somewhat..

"What do you happen to mean by that?" he snarled.

She let tears rise into her eyes, like so many times before, just to satisfy him and make him go away. "I don't know. I-I'm sorry."

"You know, sometimes I _do _think you've got the right side of our arguments." He waited a moment, then used a voice that promised more pain. Too much more, however, and she'd end it now. "Hn. Come here, bitch."

She debated to herself, then complied. His hand roughly grabbed around her tiny waist, and she waited to be thrown. But she was startled and horrified when he pulled her against him so hard she could feel every muscle in his torso.

"What do you think you are doing?" she asked in an almost bored tone. On the inside, she was panicking. The way he had her, the way she had let him have her, left her helpless.

Instead of answering her, he kissed her so hard her lips stung. Without any sort of encouragement, he thrust his tongue into her mouth.

She bucked and struggled to get away from him. He tightened his grasp all the more. She recoiled when she felt something against her abdomen, seriousness homing in on her. No, he wasn't only dirty looks and thoughts. There _was_ actual strength he possessed that could carry out his wishes.

And finally, she wrenched her mouth away from his kiss. "No!"

The man merely secured her arms with one hand, and with another pulled her head back. He pressed his lips to her chest where the red cloth didn't cover her skin.

She writhed and writhed some more and tried to free her skin from his despicable flesh. They fought each other until she fell back, painfully striking the floor.

"All these years," he murmured. All the muscles in her body clamped up, and a barrage of memories stole her mind's focus, though her body animalistically struggled on.

Until she was 6 she had had her family. But where were they now? In eleven years she'd never heard of a search for her. The only thing she had to go by was the one old story of her brother's rescue going according to plan. That was all.

Before she could sort any of it out, the memories of the man stepped into the light of her mind's eye. In one perverted motion, the girl recognized all the kindness he'd ever shown. Deep down, she knew he was twisted and cared nothing for anyone but himself. But still...

She didn't want the memory, of those few minutes, or any others. She responded to him. Even hating him, the ripped clothes didn't matter, the ugly bruises didn't hurt. Just a little, she was happy to be wanted.

Soon, she shoved him away, and went to find more red garments that weren't quite as in tatters. He may have ben handsome, but he was still just a corpse she hadn't run through with a sword yet.


	3. Slaying Comes Not Without a Price

A Half an Hour Later Chapter Three

  


Carefully, they approached Kamiya dojo. Hitokiri Battousai was reported to say here. Since the last attempt, the man had taken them all over Japan on "business deals", which she had gathered by now were simply the cheap drug deals of all underworld swine. It didn't really bother her a whole bunch anymore. It was kind of sad that the man dealt in narcotics, but he'd do anything for money for revenge against Hitokiri Battousai. Those here knew him as Himura Kenshin. They were at a different place than 11 years ago, but who cared? He still died tonight, and she wasn't thinking about the Battousai.

He looked up at the sky. She knew what he was thinking back on. She could count the stars, if she had the patience. But for some things she just did not. It wouldn't affect the outcome whether it rained or not.

They stepped up to the window, making no sound whatsoever. There were several indications of a celebration brewing inside. It seemed so inviting in there, the warmth and happiness. The girl vowed to have that, even a fraction of the happiness in there, when she was free. If all went as planned, she'd silently kill him and be gone. It only went along with her sense of justice that the Battousai would find the body of his would-be assassin in the morning.

She no longer required a stool to see inside. She made sure Battousai was in there and paid attention to nothing else. She was now determined to destroy the man who had made her a slave on the supposed night of his victory. Of course, if Battousai wasn't in there, it would only make her laugh that he didn't even get that far.

But he was, and she nodded to the man. He handed her the ancient violin. She had no idea what could have preserved such an artifact for all these centuries.

Next came the bow, but she shook her head. "No. I have something better."

While he waited in expectant confusion, she drew his katana from him.

"...TO DO WITH MY TIME THAN TO FIGHT YOUR BATTLES. I HAVE MY OWN!"

For a fraction of a second, she held poised the sword above her head. No longer could this be quite so impersonal. She couldn't walk away as if nothing had happened between them. 

She wasn't that numb.

But her second of stupidity cost her the advantage of surprise. The man lunged for the sword as it arced relentlessly down. The microscopic Japanese sword edge bit into the matter of his hand and separated it. 

A tiny part of his old discipline resurfaced, and he half bit back the scream of agony that tore over him. Even so, she felt how deep the pain had gone and knew it was an echo of her own.

Tears violated her resolve and poured down her cheeks as she fell back on her self-taught skill and battled him in the ultimate test of her will.

Those inside had noticed by now, so she hurried to make the last thrust and kill him before they could interfere.

The man wrenched the sword back into his control and softly she swore as she went for her own dagger. Not as poetic, she thought, but it would kill all the same.

As she was coming to this conclusion, the unthinkable happened. She stared at the sword wedged between two bones. She was too stupefied to even place where she had been stabbed in a thinking part of her mind. No way to get around that.

With wide eyes, and deaf ears, she bravely bore the pain and shoved her wicked dagger deep into his belly, ripping up and up.

And then he looked at her and smiled, just before he fell onto his own entrails in the dirt.

Dimly through the fog of her own death, she was even then thinking that she didn't want to die next to him. So she used her left foot to tip her backwards, now wanting only the solace of her accomplishment, prepared to face Oblivion, Hell, or even Heaven.

Through blood flooded lungs she weakly whispered to those arrived too late, "I am Sa-" she gurgled up her breath, "-a Taniko. I have avenged my family."


	4. Identity of the Stranger

A Few Moments Later Chapter Four

  


Immediately, Miss Megumi was sent for. They had all seen the two savage blows dealt by the combatants, and the best doctor was needed if they were to save even the girl.

Himura Kenshin and Sagura Sanosuke carefully took hold of the girl and moved her into an especially clean place inside. There was already a deep puddle of mud around and on her, but because of her red clothes, they couldn't tell exactly how much. For her sake, Kenshin hoped that most of it was the man's.

"Why do you think they were having their fight right out there?" Sanosuke wondered aloud.

Miss Kaoru put in, "I'm sure they weren't just taking a lover's stroll."

Kenshin's eyes focused somewhere else. "I recognized that man. The only reason he could have had for being here is to try and kill me."

"Your old friends just keep showing up, don't they?" Sanosuke observed.

"And none of them want to talk," Kenshin finished.

"Why do you think they turned on each other? Or was she trying to protect you or something?" Sanosuke nodded his head in her direction. "You couldn't have ticked her off personally. Maybe you saved her dad or something."

"Or killed him, " Kenshin muttered, thinking back on the bloody revolution in Kyoto over a decade ago, when he himself had been the girl's age.

Miss Kaoru looked at them pointedly. "Would you mind leaving?"

The two men both looked down and realized the girl was almost bare from Kaoru removing her clothing to clean her wounds. With distinctly nervous and blushing faces, they back quickly out of the room. "Heheheh."

As they exited, Miss Megumi entered. Her eyes grew wide and she gasped when she saw the extent of the girl's injuries. They weren't limited to the last sword thrust.

She set to work immediately and her mind nagged at her that the girl's life she fought for was already lost. Thankfully, Miss Kaoru had already begun the initial purifying process.

Yahiko sat down and rested form his run to fetch Megumi. Because of his age, about ten or so, he wasn't made to leave and they used him to help. "Is she gonna live?"

"I don't know, " Megumi answered, then sent him out for the most squeamish part.

"Do you think she'll live?" he asked again. 

Kenshin answered the same as Megumi. "The injuries are very serious, that they are."

"Who were they?"

Sanosuke shrugged. "I heard her say her name was Taniko."

"Well, at least we know what to call her, "Yahiko commented.


	5. Notice

Obviously, this is not a chapter to my story. Sadly, well, at least, I hope it's sad for you, I no longer have access to this computer, or any competent computer for that matter, so I won't be able to update and put up the rest for an indefinite amount of time. That's not to say I won't try. But anyway, I just wanted to put this up so if anyone actually read and enjoyed my story, they won't hold their breath. So, all I can say is I hope you leave plenty of reviews, and in your reviews, please feel free to leave conjectures, flames, whatever. It doesn't really matter to me. But I would like to say that compliments and reviews that point out specific flaws and/or strengths are probably the kind I would most appreciate. Anyway, to wrap this up, if you leave your email address and a review saying you'd like to read more, I'd be more than happy to give you an email when I can finally access a computer that works for me, if you decide you don't want me on your favorite authors list, lol. So, as you can see, I'm a rambling kind of person, and I think I'll just leave everything else up to you.

Naavu

email me at: demon_naavu@yahoo.com


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